


Failsafe Destiny

by TheFoggyLondonView



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cipher Twins, Arson, Demon Dipper Pines, Demon Mabel Pines, Gen, Magical Shenanigans, Mentions of past abuse, Near Death Experiences, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reverse Bill Cipher, Role Reversal, cipher twins au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 11:41:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13364022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoggyLondonView/pseuds/TheFoggyLondonView
Summary: Bill and Will Cipher have been living in Gravity Falls since their great uncles took custody of them a few months ago. It a complete 180 of what their used to though that’s not a bad thing. Of course trouble always finds them eventually. After what should have been a fatal golf cart crash in the woods, they find themselves in a bit more than they bargained for.The crash broke the seal containing some ancient evil and the twin are now responsible for the only things that can stop them. That is if they can even figure out how they work. This isn't going to be easy. The newly released demons have plans, big plans, and they can’t have some 10-year-olds with magic items getting in their way.





	Failsafe Destiny

The golf cart rocketed through the forest recklessly while the two children inside screamed. The monster chasing them suddenly stopped and fled back the way it came as if in fear. The golf cart did not slow.

“Bill, it quit chasing us. Stop this thing!”

One of the boys in the cart said. His hair was as blue as his eyes and he was crying. The other boy, Bill, was blond and had messier hair but that was their only difference in appearance. He was in the driver’s seat and attempted to hit the break.

“I can’t Will! The break quit working!”  
“It’s what?!”  
“You heard me.”  
Bill tried to turn the wheel but is turned the other way. Bill let go and the car started driving its self.  
“Ok, that’s not normal.”

The boys could do little more than cling to each other while the golf cart drove then someplace they didn’t know at speeds they’re sure the golf cart shouldn’t be capable of. They kind of wish their Grunkle Stan had had seat belts installed on his golf carts. 

Will let go of Bill to put his hands over his eyes Bill gripped the seat as the runaway cart barreled around a curve. After going over the crest of the hill an old temple type thing made of stone could be seen ahead of them.

The golf cart drove right through the entrance and crashed into the large stone column at the center of the inside room. The force of the crash made the entire structure shake. Given the building was ancient and not kept up things were already falling apart so the shaking dislodged stones and slabs.

There was a moderate amount of destruction. The boys had been launched out of the cart on impact to separate places in the room and both were knocked out. Since they were unconscious neither saw one of the two ornamental looking balls on the pedestal, the pink one with the shooting star, roll off because of the crash and smash on the floor. 

Bill came to shortly after the ball was smashed but he could barely breath. There was a huge slab on his back pinning him down. He didn’t have enough air to register pain and everything was fuzzy in his head and in his vision if he opened his eyes so he kept them closed.

Was he going to die like this? He’s far too weak to push the giant slab of stone off of himself. It’s going to slowly crush him until he suffocates. Right now, it’s partially caught on something that’s keeping it from completely crushing him but it’s slowly slipping and eventually will crush him flat.

He’s boned. Hopefully Will’s in a better situation.

Will was in fact in a worse situation as he’d been launch directly into a stone wall head first and was knocked out, trapped in a pile of rubble, and slowly bleeding to death. Bill had no way of knowing that though.

Bill suddenly felt a burst of air that smelled faintly of pink lemonade and energy drink. He doesn’t have enough oxygen getting to his brain to think too hard on it but he definitely heard a loud shrill laugh afterwards then someone speaking.

“Oh goodie! Gravity Falls I missed you!”  
The voice was female.  
“Oh, but look at poor brother dear. All that work and it only set me free. Well let’s fix that.”  
A few seconds later there was another shattering sound then another burst of air a short while after that, this time, smelled faintly of pine and old books.  
“Ugh, must you have smashed me against a wall sister? You know you have a pile driver of a pitch.”  
This new voice was male and sounded significantly less gleeful than the female’s. The girl giggled.  
“Oh, don’t be such a downer brother. We are free. Let’s celebrate! I’m thinking make overs and Mabel juice.”  
“We can’t celebrate yet sister dear. We aren’t at full power yet. The time will come but we must prepare first.”  
“Right as always my dearest brother.”  
Bill didn’t hear anything for a good couple minutes other than things being moved around.  
“Oh, brother come look!”  
“What is it?”  
“We thought the one in the cart was an adult or would have at least jumped ship but look it’s clearly a small child.”  
“Sister no.”  
“But he’s so small and blue! Can’t we help him? He’s still got a good 25 minutes of life left in him before he bleeds out enough for his heart to stop. That’s enough time.”  
“I’ll never understand you and your sympathy towards children. They’re needy and get in the way only to grow into even bigger problems. Just let it die.”

They were talking about Will. Will’s dying? Not on Bill’s watch. Bill got some adrenaline from the thought of his twin dying and started trying to get up even though there was no way for him to succeed.

He didn’t have enough oxygen in his body to try for more than a few seconds however before being forced to lay on the stone floor again. The movement was enough to call attention to himself though and went the female voice spoke again she was closer. 

“Oh there’s two of them!!! Oh, brother please can we help them? They are so cute. They must be twins like us. This one is near suffocated and crushed. He’s got less than 15 minutes before that rock smashes him flat like a flapjack.”

“Just let them die.”  
“But they’re just babies!”  
“You’re not going to give this up, are you?”  
“Nope!”  
“Ok, fine, we’ll save them.”  
“Yay! I call the blue one! I’m better at healing and he needs it more. Have fun with the yellow one. He’s about to die.”

Bill was barely conscious at this point; his thoughts were slow and even what he heard was muted and breathing was near impossible. There was no strength left in his body. He couldn’t even open his eyes.

Suddenly the rock slab on him was removed. He was allowed to suck in large amounts of air but still didn’t feel strong enough to move. He coughed, choking on the dust and dirt around as well as on the air that was trying to get into his lungs.

Now that he had air he could feel exactly how much pain his body was in. Now, Bill prides himself on his ability to handle absurd amounts of pain. He broke his arm in 3 places once and only cried a little bit.

This. This is a million times worse. Everything hurt. It was like every single bone was broken or something. Moving made it hurt worse. Even the slight movement that came from breathing made it worse.

Bill’s never been an easy crier. That’s Will’s thing. Will cries over everything. Bill rarely ever cries but man is he crying right now. Everything hurts so much. He can’t cry hard though because the sobs that rack his chest hurt.

“Geez. You broke every rib, didn’t you? No wonder it looks like breathing hurts you. You’re crying, which also must hurt, so I can safely assume you’re conscious. Well, I’m not as gentle with healing as my sister but she’s busy and I did say I’d take care of you so I’ll fix you up. Try not to scream while I mend your bones. As much as I’d like to hear it the last thing we need right now is attention. Not yet.”

“Wh-what…”  
Bill choked out. His throat was too dry for him to be loud.  
“Shush.”

There was the distinct sound of someone snapping their fingers and then Bill’s bones were putting themselves back together and mending on their own. His other injuries also healed. It was super painful.

Bill couldn’t even get a scream out before it was over but those few seconds where now in the top 10 worst moments of Bill’s life. He ended up curled up in a ball shaking and crying, finally able to fully cry now that he didn’t hurt anymore.

“I fixed you. Why are you still crying? Oh, what do I care. Sister are you done yet?”  
“Yes brother.”  
“Why are you holding it?”  
“I was going to place them together in a nice comfy pile.”  
“They are children not cats.”

Bill forced himself to uncurl upon hearing that they were holding Will. He wiped his eyes and got a look at who these people were. The male was in a black tail coat with pants and shoes that fit the theme and had short brown hair. He was not facing Bill.

The female was and was holding Will who looked repaired but scared and was crying because he wasn’t sure what was happening. She wore a white dress shirt and long deep pink skirt. She also had brown hair but it was long. Her eyes were pink like her skirt. Both were tall.

“H-hey! Put Will down!”  
Bill said. His throat was too dry for him to speak very loudly but he tried. No one messes with his brother.  
“Oh, he’s so fierce despite being so little!”  
The girl said gleefully. Her counterpart looked back at Bill observing him with bored dark blue eyes.  
“Yes. We need to be going sister. There’s much to do. Put them together to I can make them think this was all a dream.”  
“Ok brother.”

The girl walk over to where Bill was and placed Will on the floor next to him. Will immediately clung to Bill who hugged his brother close. Will wasn’t hurt anymore he just doesn’t like being picked up without warning and consent and doesn’t like not understanding what’s going on.

The girl smiled at them and ruffled both their hair.

“Don’t worry little ones, you’re safe now. We’re just going to make sure you don’t remember any of this and you’ll never see me or my brother again. Stay right there little ones. This won’t hurt.”

She stood and when back to her brother. He looked at the twins with that bored look and Bill wondered if he even knew how to smile. He raised one hand and snapped. In the same moment, Bill and Will passed out again.

-

Bill blinked a few times upon waking again then woke up his brother. A quick look around showed nothing had changed except the two people that had saved them were gone. After he confirmed Will was ok Bill ran over to the crashed golf cart and retrieved a water bottle which he then chugged.

Now that his throat wasn’t a desert he could talk properly again.

“Well, I hope Grunkle Stan does count his golf carts because this one is beyond repair.”  
Will approached the wreck.  
“Bill, did you have a weird dream while we were knocked out?”

“You mean the one where we almost die but are save by a brown-haired girl and guy with magic-y powers? Yeah I had that one. Not sure how legit the dream part is though. Given where we were sitting in the cart and the perceived speed given the amount of damage that’s been caused, our trajectory upon being ejected from the cart should have landed us on opposite sides of the room. However, we woke up on my side together and impossibly unscathed. You should have been launched into the far wall.”

“There you go, calculating trajectory in your head like it’s as simple as 2+2. I swear you’re part graphing calculator.”  
“I will admit my mathematical ability is something of note.”  
“We should start heading back.”

“No. I just told you I don’t think that was exactly a dream not entirely anyway. We never have the same dreams and the math doesn’t support the dream theory. Plus, we already know Gravity Falls is weird. Let’s look around here for clues.”

“Ok, but just for a minute. I want to go home.”

The two boys went around the room carefully. In the back, there was a pedestal with a stand that looked like it was meant to hold two spheres. The spheres were gone. Where they had gone was no mystery however.

One Ball, the blue one with a pine tree, had been smashed rather violently against the far wall while the pink one with the shooting star was smashed at the foot of the pedestal as if it just rolled off.

“Can we go now, Bill?”  
Will asked hopefully. Bill examined the pedestal for a second.  
“Hm… hold on I think I can get behind this.”

Will groaned but didn’t stop his brother from going behind the pedestal. He waited for Bill to find nothing and come back. Instead, after a few minutes there was the sound of rocks being moved then Bill popped up with that excited look Will knew too well.

“Bro, I found a secret passage!”  
“Bill, that’s dangerous.”  
Bill stuck his tongue out at Will.  
“Well if you don’t want to explore with me I’ll go by myself.”

Bill disappeared behind the pedestal again. Will hesitated before folding and going behind the pedestal as well. He didn’t want to be left in this place alone. It turned out Bill was on his knees waiting for him.

“I knew you’d give in.”  
“Shut up.”  
“Come on, if we crawl we can make it through. Just looking through I can see light on the other end.”  
Will looked at the tunnel Bill had found. It was about 3 x 3 feet. Nearby were the stones Bill had pulled away to find it.  
“Y-you go first.”  
“Scaredy-cat.”

Bill went into the tunnel first anyway. Will followed him. The tunnel wasn’t long and it was a straight shot so both boys soon ended up crawling out the other side. They were in a new room now that wasn’t quite as big as the main room they’d just left.

There was light coming in through the holes in the ceiling and walls where stone had fallen away but plants hadn’t covered. It wasn’t much but it was enough. The room was set up symmetrically.

There was a big gold bowl on a low pedestal in the center and a taller pedestal about two feet away on either side. These pedestals were proudly displaying respectively on little stands that seemed to be empty. Bill went up to the gold bowl followed nervously by Will.

“Bill, I don’t think we should be here. I’m getting a weird feeling. Bill? Bill, are you listening?”  
“There’s liquid in this bowl.”  
Bill dipped his finger in it then brought it to his face.  
“Don’t lick it!”  
Will screeched.  
“I’m not going to lick it. Anymore. I’ll just sniff it.”  
Bill said. Will grumbled but decided to take what he can get. Bill sniffed at the liquid on his finger quizzically before coming to a conclusion.  
“Not exactly sure what it is but it’s flammable.”  
“How can you tell it’s flammable?”  
“It smells similar to lighter fluid but not quite, so I assume it’s flammable.”  
“Right… You’d know about that… wouldn’t you…”  
Bill looked at Will and they shared a solemn look, both remembering a past event they just can’t seem to forget no matter how hard they try.  
“I’m not going to get like that again, Will. I promise. Back then I just… you know the circumstances.”  
“I know. Let’s just move on.”  
“Ok.”  
Bill turned back to the bowl and searched through his short’s pocket for a few seconds before pulling out a pack of matches. Will’s eyes widened.  
“Bill, why do you still have matches?!”  
“Just in case. Step back.”

Will took a few steps back and Bill lit a match then tossed it into the bowl. He’d been right when he said it was flammable. What Bill wasn’t expecting was the flames to be blue. Actually, it was a mix of blue and pink. Bill’s not sure how that’s scientifically possible. 

The room was now much more lit.

They explored around the room which was mostly uninteresting rock until they got to the back. The back wall was plated in carved gold. The twins looked at the pictures. There was clearly a story there but they could really make sense of it.

There were words too but they weren’t in English.

“I wonder what it says.”  
Bill said. Will studied it for a second.  
“Monuit saevientes… oh it’s Latin. I got this.”  
“Have at it, Will.”

Bill’s a human calculator but Will’s good with language. Technically they both learned Latin but Bill only learned enough to communicate with Will while Will went for the 100%. He’s not perfect but that’s not surprising since it’s a dead language and he’s a self-taught 10-year-old. 

They had picked a language that people are unlikely to know out of self-preservation. They can make better escape plans when the people they're trying escape from can't understand them. In they end, they suppose that their plan really did only work because everyone else dismissed what they would say as gibberish.

“Ok this is super old and I don’t know some of these words. It says something about lighting a bowl and test of worth. Also something about magic failsafe to stop imprisoned evil.”  
Will looked at it for a few more seconds.  
“Yeah, that’s all I got.”  
“What talismans? We’ve been through the whole room.”  
Bill said and Will shrugged.  
“Those stands on the pedestals were empty. Maybe somebody already took them.”  
“Man. It sounded like we’d get something cool if we messed with them. I already lit the bowl like it said and everything.”  
“Can we go now?”  
“Fine.”

The boys turned away from the gold-plated wall and started walking back to the tunnel. When they reached the bowl, which was still burning, Bill stopped and grabbed the back of Will’s shirt to make him stop too.

“What? Bill?”  
“The stands aren’t empty anymore.”  
“The stands?”

Will looked at the pedestals like Bill was. The stands that were previously empty now displayed a pine tree and shooting star respectively. That was weird. They stared in silence for a second before it dawned on Bill.

“I get it.”  
“You get what?”  
“The text on the wall. I understand it, sort of, partially, I think.”  
“Care to share your findings with the class then?”  
“To see the talisman things, you have to light the bowl. Look, they only seem to be visible in the light of the fire.”  
Will looked at them and the parts that weren’t getting direct fire light were less visible.  
“Ok, that’s weird.”  
“I think, I think we’re supposed to take them.”

“Bill, no. Taking ancient magic-y talismans found in a secret room in an old temple like building deep in the woods that has a weird warning prophecy thing written on the wall in another language, screams bad idea. I’m sure this exact thing has been the plot of a multi-genera action/horror movie at some point.”

Bill was giving Will the most done look he could muster.  
“You worry too much. Grab the shooting star. I’m taking the pine tree.”  
Will sighed.  
“Why do I bother? Alright, but if we get cursed it’s your fault I’m never letting it go.”  
“Fair enough.”  
The twins stood in front of their respective pedestals.  
“On the count of three. One… two… three!”

Both twins reached up in unison and grabbed the talisman on their pedestal. They’re 10-years-old so they had to stand on their tip-toes to do it but they both managed to take the things out of their stands.

The shooting star and pine tree seemed to solidify in their hands. They glanced at each other. Nothing was occurring visibly but they could both feel something happening. It felt as if something was searching their minds.

Also, putting the objects down didn’t seem to be an option. Will tried and he couldn’t let go. The shooting star and pine tree started glowing. It was dull at first but got brighter until both boys had to look away and close their eyes.

Bill opened his eyes when he realized he was no longer holding anything. He noticed the fire was out then looked at Will who still had his eyes shut tight and holding his hands away. They were also empty but Will still looked scared to open his eyes.

“Will, it’s over.”  
Bill said and Will opened his eyes.  
“Ok, that was weird.”  
“Yeah. Where’d you find that necklace?”  
“What?”

Will felt his neck and found a cord of some kind there. Hanging from it was… he held it up. It was a shooting star just like he was holding previously only a lot smaller. Ok, things have officially crossed the “how much crazy he can take in a day” line for Will. He looked back at Bill.

“You got one too. It’s a pine tree.”  
Bill felt his neck and looked at the small pendent in a similar fashion to what Will had done.  
“Cool. Something magic definitely happened.”  
“I don’t want some cursed magic-y thing!”

Will took the necklace off and threw it across the room. It appeared back around his neck moments afterward. Upon discovering he seemed to be stuck with it, Will decided to lie on the floor and curl in a ball.

“Nope. Nope. I’m done. That’s too much.”

Bill watched then looked at his own pendant. His mind was trying to piece together an explanation. This whole thing didn’t quite make sense. Yet. He was going to figure out what they did eventually.

All he had right now were random pieces of spotty information and the feeling something big just happened. He walked over to Will and squat down to talk to him. Honestly, he probably shouldn’t be laying on the ground here.

“Do you want to go home now?”  
“Yes.”


End file.
